Singer-songwriter Chelsea Berry gets her voice back

Mary Reines mreines@wickedlocal.com @MaryReines

Wednesday

Feb 14, 2018 at 2:29 PM

Singer-songwriter Chelsea Berry was thrilled to be back in the spotlight as she performed her first full-length set since September at the Me & Thee Coffeehouse on Friday. The Alaska native, Berklee grad, former Gloucester resident and Livingston Taylor protégée was feeling so good that night, she even shared a brand new song.

“I’ve never played it before because I finished it during the [set] break,” she told the audience.

The song, which she imagines will be “big and bluesy” with additional instrumentation, is an ode to her voice, which she feared she would lose forever when it went out just before her CD release concert in September. Then the pain spread from her throat to her chest and her anxiety grew. Could it be acid reflux? Vocal nodes? Esophageal cancer? Finally, Berry discovered the source of her symptoms.

“It was my brain freaking out that my voice was gone,” Berry said.

These days, she is successfully handling the pain with vocal therapy. She spends more time crafting songs.

Glancing at her notebook, which was placed on a stool next to her water bottle, Berry shared her song with its first ever listeners.

“I really want to play this for you,” she told the audience.

It was clear that it was written for her vocal cords.

“I just can’t let her go,” Berry sang. “She knows my need for her is real… I can’t do this thing alone.”

The song was one of many marking Berry’s sentimental first Me & Thee headliner, which included touching stories of friends and family members and featured many heart-rending ballads presented with Berry’s controlled, sensitive voice. That night she proved, as she has time and time again, to be a master of dynamics and vocal technique.

Among the many moving moments was an audience-supported rendition of “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which was dedicated to her grandmother who used to drive up from Pennsylvania to see her perform in Massachusetts. Before the show, her grandmother would say, “Play West Virginia, Chelsea.” That’s where she lived when Chelsea was growing up.

“My grandma passed right after the first of the year,” Berry said. “It brings me so much joy to sing this song, and have you sing it with me.”

She also performed her older rock song “Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” which was written for her brother, a marine who became a contractor in Baghdad before returning to study engineering at University of Alaska Anchorage. The title of the song was inspired by her grandmother, who offered her consolation when Berry was worrying about her brother’s fate as a Marine.

“Between the devil and the deep blue sea, he’ll figure it out,” her grandmother told her.

Berry’s set also included an old folk standard, “The King of Rome,” about the eponymous racing pigeon that won a 1,000-mile race from Italy to England in 1913, raised by Charlie Hudson, alleged founder of pigeon racing. A cappella and off-mic, Berry embodied the glory of the event as her voice soared strong and mighty, thrumming through every heart in the church.

“You can crawl around your whole life, or you can learn to fly,” she sang, stretching her voice on the word “fly.”

There were also love songs off of Berry’s latest album, “Wanderbird,” such as the sweet pop tune “Carry Your Heart,” inspired by the E.E. Cummings poem “i carry your heart with me,” and the soothing ballad, “Anchor,” written by her friend and fellow singer-songwriter Megan Burtt for a friend’s wedding. Burtt wrote it while visiting Berry in Manchester-by-the-Sea.

“You’ve always been my lighthouse ... I knew that I would find you,” Berry sang. “And now that I have got you, I’ll throw my anchor down.”

To close out the evening, Berry and opener Nicole Zuraitis came offstage and off-mic to perform “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” softly in the dark. Berry dedicated the song to the owners of the Cape Ann Brewing Company, longtime supporters who were in the audience.

Earlier that night, Berry commented on the power of music.

“Isn’t music just the most wonderful thing that ever was?” She said.

Zuraitis, a Brooklyn resident who performs regularly at piano bars, showed off her shimmering voice and clever songwriting style with tracks like “I Like Him a Latte,” written for her husband who loves to make coffee, as well as her elevated take on Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” giving it a sultry jazzy finish. She said that she met Berry playing with Livingston Taylor in Rockport.

“She’s an inspiration and such an incredible songwriter,” Zuraitis said.